The early bird

  It's not in my nature to be up with the lark, I'm much more of a night owl; but inspired by Bunny Mummy's post with lovely photos of the morning light, I thought I would check it out for myself.  With sunshine forecast for yesterday it was perfect for me to see what I've been missing.  I suppose being out and about at half seven may be the norm for a lot of people but it took a bit of effort on my part!

I must say I wasn't disappointed....

The long shadows stretched across the frosty fields

In the opposite direction the moon was still up

I loved the patterns on this frozen puddle, but needless to say I couldn't resist breaking the ice on it after I'd taken the photo!

On this part of the footpath the grass was still frosty but the frost on the hedge was thawing in the sunshine

and here the frost on the barbed wire has melted into droplets (if you haven't already, you'll need to click on the photo to see them)

I saw this crab apple tree in someone's garden which was chock-a-block with tiny yellow apples 

The same garden had a tree that had shed these leaves

Further on three roe deer ran across the path.  I only managed to get a pic of the last one as I was too slow getting my camera out

By the time I got to this point I'd been out for two and a half hours so the sun was well and truly up, and it felt really warm just here

There's still a surprising amount of trees that haven't got their autumn colours yet but there were some nice ones in this wood

This has been a very photo heavy post, so well done if you've made it this far, and I hope you enjoyed my early morning walk as much as I did!

Appeal of bells

Sometimes a chance remark can set the wheels in motion in unexpected ways... 
I was out country/barn dancing with some friends on Thursday afternoon, when Audrey said that the local church was starting up a handbell ringing group that evening.   Someone else said they fancied it too, so they both arranged to go along and give it a try.   
It didn't really interest me, but I said that I've always wanted to have a go at ringing the church bells (I demonstrated this with a mime of pulling a rope down!), and low and behold Audrey said she thought they needed new ringers at the church. 
She gave me a phone number to ring and two hours later I was up in the bell tower of the church!

This is Haxey church with the main entrance

The bell tower has it's own door 

The little slit in the side of the bell tower is the window of the room where the bell ropes are (click to enlarge)

The room is reached by a very narrow stone spiral staircase that seems to go on forever.
There's six bells of different weights (and sounds) and I had my first lesson on the lightest one - some weigh about a ton each.

Unfortunately I can't go again this week because I'm going to see War Horse the play, but I'll be raring to go the week after.
I'd never have thought that morning that I would be ringing church bells in the evening!

October 2013 Photo Scavenger Hunt

I've really struggled with the list this month and only got the last five yesterday.  I'd had (great) ideas of what I wanted to get for some of them, but never came across the things I was looking for.  Sod's law I'll see them all the time now I don't need them!
So this is my selection

Orange

Usually in October we've had a frost and the nasturtiums have been killed off, but they're still going strong even now

2

one plus one

Flower

One of a tray of primulas I bought recently

Rubbish

This is a decoration I made for the tree out of a couple of used aluminium cans 

Emotion

I didn't want to put photos on the internet of any of my family's faces, so I resorted to these book covers

Flight

A sculpture on the side of a building in Leeds

Home Made

A spoon I whittled from a bit of branch.  Appropriately It's resting on a dress I made from bark cloth!

Black and White

I think this looks like it could be in a little seaside town with the cobbled road, but it's in the middle of Leeds

Coffee Time

I came upon this coffee shop with just the right name

Balloon

Weather Cock

Or horse in this case

Fridge Magnet

Not much to look at but the only fridge magnet I've got

You can see what other people have come up with for the scavenger hunt over at Made with love, and there's next month's list if you want to join in.